It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Sixteen

"Iran-Contra: Reagan's Image and Popularity Take A Hit"

Midway through Reagan's second term a scandal broke which came to generally be called "Iran-Contra." The overall scandal was far too complex to detail here, and I would say, many Americans back then didn't really understand many of the details, but the basic parts involved were these:  First, pretty much throughout Reagan's time in office, Iran and neighboring Iraq were in a bitter war with one another. The long ordeal of the American hostages in Iran from 1979-1981 and the anti-American theocracy ruling Iran left the U.S. openly supporting Iraq, a country under dictator Saddam Hussein. U.S. support was financial, technological, military and diplomatic. There was a U.S. embargo (including weapons) against Iran at this same time. Further, the Cold War was still very much a reality, and fear of Soviet aid to other countries (and the influence that could gain), especially in the crucial oil area of the Middle East, was always a concern. Second, Nicaragua (in Central America) was ruled by a communist group called the "Sandinistas," a group the Reagan administration very much opposed (some would say "became obsessed with," which distorted their judgment). The administration was not legally able to give material support to the Nicaraguan opponents of the Sandinistas, called the "Contras," because of laws prohibiting such.* Third, while bound by law, Reagan made it clear to some in his administration that he wanted to assist the Contras in some way in their fight against the communist regime. Fourth, Iran needed military aid in its war against Iraq, and moderate political/military factions in Iran secretly sought such aid from the U.S., although the U.S. was openly in support of Iraq. Fifth, some Americans were being held hostage by an Iranian supported terrorist group in Lebanon. Reagan refused to negotiate with these terrorists for the release of the hostages.** Sixth, the U.S. sold weapons to Iran by using Israel as the actual supplier of the weapons to Iran, for which Israel then received weapons from the U.S. to compensate, with the further idea that the Iranians would then aid in the release of the American hostages in Lebanon. Seventh, the process began and weapons were sold to Iran via Israel and some hostages were released. Eighth, Oliver North, an officer in the Marine Corps, was also an adviser to the administration on national security matters. North proposed upping the price on the weapons sold to Iran and skipping the Israeli go between. The extra money generated by the sales would then be used to help the Contras in Nicaragua, and this money would not be reported as part of the arms sales, which was seen as a way to get around U.S. law.   

The overall deal had problems, as although some American hostages were released early on, other American hostages were then taken, "apparently" as replacements for those already released. "Perhaps" the Iranians, who weren't stupid, figured they were already being overcharged for the weapons, and that further hostages would give them leverage to keep needed American weapons coming to them for their war with Iraq. Whatever the case, news reports from the Middle East, seemingly initiated by Iranians, put the matter out into the public domain and brought a flurry of media coverage in the U.S. about an "arms for hostages deal." By then too, a plane had been shot down in Nicaragua by Sandinista forces while on a secret mission to deliver materials to the Contras. The mission had been approved by some Reagan administration officials. The whole complex matter began to be told, and under pressure, President Reagan tried to explain to Americans what had happened, which he said did not involve arms for hostages or broken American laws. However, hearings by a Reagan appointed commission to investigate the matter gained testimony from a number of witnesses and indicated the involvement of some high ranking Reagan administration officials, although some missing documents precluded conclusive direct links in many instances to the President himself, but the commission did blame Reagan for lax oversight of his administration. Reagan then faced the American public to tell them he had misspoken earlier about the arms for hostages deal, while still leaving room for Americans to support him by essentially saying he didn't see the deal making as arms for hostages, but the evidence said otherwise.

Reagan's popularity dropped tremendously. Reagan's time in office had several incidents with terrorists taking hostages on planes and even a cruise ship, where an elderly Jewish-American in a wheelchair was murdered and pushed overboard. It all goes to show that these kinds of terrorist incidents, which have continued in some manner ever since, are not easily controlled, in spite of the partisan political slogans, whether your name is Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush or Obama.    

* The Contras had initial help and support in organizing from the CIA, dating from the Carter administration. There were many reports that the Contras violated human rights and committed war crimes, which made some Americans leery of aiding them. On the other hand, the ruling Sandinistas, who had overthrown the previous government in a revolution, were communist and heavily backed by Cuba's Fidel Castro, with at least some connections to then communist dominated eastern Europe. 

** The refusal to negotiate with "terrorists" was not new. Jimmy Carter and his administration had negotiated with representatives of the Iranian government over the American hostages held a few years earlier, as "technically," the Iranian government was not holding the Americans hostage, but rather they were held by Iranian revolutionaries and students. Likewise, the hostages in Lebanon were held by an Iranian group, "technically" not affiliated with the Iranian government.

WORD HISTORY:
Brew-This word goes back to Indo European "bhreuh," which had the notion of "to boil," which led by extension to the meanings "to seethe, to bubble, to cook." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "breuwanan," which meant "to brew." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "breowan," which then became "brewen," before the modern version. The noun form developed from the verb, but another noun had preceded that, which was "briw," which meant "porridge, cooked meal/ground grain" (German still has the noun "Brei" and Low German has "Bree," both with the same meaning as their now deceased English relative). Forms of "brew" are common in the other Germanic languages and it is closely related to "broth," which comes from the same source (I'll cover it soon): German has "brauen" (to brew), "Brühe" (broth) and "Gebräu" (formerly  "a brew," but in modern times used derogatorily for "a brewed concoction"); Low German Saxon has "broen" (to brew) and "Bröh" (broth); Dutch has "brouwen" (to brew); West Frisian has "brouwe" (brew); Danish has "brygge" (brew);  Icelandic has "brugga" (brew);  Norwegian has "brygg" (brew); and Swedish has "brygga" (to brew).

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Fifteen

"Conservatism Consolidates Power-Reagan Runs Again"

As the economy gradually improved, foreign policy challenges remained for the U.S. and the world, including in the ever volatile Middle East. Lebanon was in a state of civil war, and the U.S. sent military personnel, mainly Marines, as part of an international force to guarantee the withdrawal of opposing forces there, including Israeli military units, and to provide security for Lebanon to stabilize.* Not long thereafter, there was a suicide bombing of the American embassy in Beirut which killed more than 60 Americans. This was followed a few months later by another suicide attack on a barracks in Beirut housing American military personnel, primarily Marines, which resulted in the death of nearly 250 Americans, most of them U.S. Marines. A few months later, Reagan authorized the withdrawal of American forces from Lebanon. Also shortly after the barracks bombing came an attack on the U.S. embassy in Kuwait and about a year later came another attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut, which had been moved to another part of the city after the first bombing.

In a period of about two and one half years, the Soviet Union had FOUR different leaders. Always secretive and insecure, the Soviets were terrified of telling the truth to their people, and when their leaders did not appear in public for a lengthy period, Soviet propaganda, ah, I mean "news," would announce that the particular leader "has a cold." It fooled few in free nations (in fact it became something of a joke), and probably few Soviet citizens, as three leaders died during that time span, finally bringing Mikhail Gorbachev to power. In the midst of these changes in Soviet leaders came news that a Korean passenger plane had been shot down by Soviet aircraft, after straying into Soviet airspace, resulting in more than 200 deaths (most of them South Koreans, but Americans and other nationalities were also killed). Reagan stopped Soviet flights to the U.S. and halted some negotiations with the Soviets in retaliation. The Soviets "claimed" the plane was spying on the Soviet Union,** a story that didn't play well in the international community. The incident only served to play to one of Reagan's strengths, his anti-communism and his ability to lambaste the Soviets, which became increasingly popular in the U.S. and other democratic nations.

By 1984 Reagan was up for reelection, although he was 73 years old. The age issue remained with him, as it had when he ran in 1980. As noted in an earlier segment, Reagan loved to joke, including about himself, and he even could laugh at jokes by others about him. Just prior to his inauguration, impressionist and comedian Rich Little had perfected Reagan's voice and mannerisms. With Reagan in the audience, Little told a joke, the gist of which, I have never forgotten. The basic joke was that a reporter (imitated by Little) asked Reagan at a news conference what he planned to do about the energy crisis. In response, (imitating Reagan) he said something like, "We are going to go to the sun to tap the energy there. Now I know you may think this is strange, because we'll get burned up before we get there, but we won't, because we're going to go at night." Cameras showed Reagan laughing as hard as the audience. This was one of Reagan's strengths, the ability to laugh, even at his own expense. I can't emphasize enough, Americans generally liked this, and being liked as president is critical in tough times, and it undoubtedly, in my opinion, allowed Reagan to remain in office, even though the public did not necessarily agree with many of his policies. This earned him the title of the "Teflon president," by some; that is, political problems didn't stick to him.

In the first debate in 1984 against Democratic opponent, former Vice President Walter Mondale, Reagan was not in top shape, and this brought renewed concern about his age. More on his toes in the second debate, Reagan cracked that he was not going to exploit Mondale's "youth and inexperience" (he was 17 years younger than Reagan) against him in the campaign. Even Mondale laughed, and the issue of Reagan's age died down. On election day, Reagan won a resounding victory, carrying all but Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia, as well as nearly 59% of the popular vote (Mondale received less than 41%).*** Like him, not like him, agree with him, or not agree with him, Americans took a strong liking to Reagan and felt he was "in charge;" thus they entrusted him with another four years.

* The situation in Lebanon was highly complex and far beyond the boundaries of this article, but it involved religious elements in Lebanon, where there was a mixture of Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims, plus elements of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (also known as the "PLO"), and substantial influence by Syria and by Iran, which was a theocracy (a system of rule by those believed to be divinely guided). Israel intervened in Lebanon with military forces about a year before U.S. military involvement.

** This is another complicated story beyond the boundaries of this article, but there have been theories that the plane may have had the additional mission of gathering information (spying) on the Soviets. Since the Soviets withheld much evidence for so long, including items recovered from the aircraft, their credibility for supporting evidence was highly suspect. 

*** The 1984 election saw Walter Mondale choose Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his vice presidential running mate. This was the first time a major party had a woman on the ticket, but it didn't help much, as women voted heavily for Reagan, although less so than men.

WORD HISTORY:
Stair(s)-Often used in the plural, this word goes back to Indo European "steygh," which had the notion of "step, stride (which also produced the sense 'march'), and ascend." This gave Old Germanic the noun "staigriz," which placed more emphasis on the "ascend" meaning, as it meant "elevated platform;" thus several "elevated platforms" became "stairs, staircase, stairway." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "staeger," with the meaning "staircase" or just one "step" of such a staircase. This later became "stayer," "steir," or "steyer" (all such forms were used), as the "g" sound transitioned to a "y" or "i" sound, which then produced the modern version. Common in the other Germanic languages: German uses three forms: "Stiege" (pronounced as if "steeg-eh), "staircase," "Steig" (pronounced as if "styke"), "path on a hill or mountain," and "Steige" (pronounced as if "sty-geh"), "steps, stairs;" Low German Saxon has "Stieg" meaning "path;" Dutch has "steiger," "landing platform, pier;" Danish and Norwegian have "sti," meaning "path, trail;" and Swedish has "stig," meaning "path." I did not find forms in modern Frisian or Icelandic, although West Frisian has the verb form "stige," meaning "to climb, to ascend."